Harry here... well then... Quint did an interview... damn he does those all the time, but what happened to his Chris Columbus interview?
Ahoy there, squirts! 'Tis I, the forever crusty ol' seaman, Quint, here to give you folks a little peek into the new indie flick put out by IFC FILMS called The Business of Strangers. I got to briefly chat with the director, Patrick Stettner, and he discusses working with Julia Stiles, Stockard Channing and even gives me a dirty joke! Sorry the interview's so short, squirts. I'll make it up with my next one, I promise. hehehe
QUINT: YOUR FILM STARS A FEW BIG NAME ACTRESSES. FIRST IS JULIA STILES WHO'S PRETTY HOT RIGHT NOW. THE OTHER IS STOCKARD CHANNING. HOW'D YOU GET JULIA AND RIZZO FOR YOUR FILM?
PATRICK STETTNER: (laughs) You can't say that if you interview her!
QUINT: WELL, I DON'T THINK THAT'S GONNA HAPPEN, SO I CAN CALL HER RIZZO BEHIND HER BACK.
PATRICK STETTNER: (laughs) Yeah, yeah. I got Stockard first 'cause Julia is really the main role... She really liked the writing and wanted to do that kind of character and I think the character kinda spoke to her. But the younger actress (casting) was kinda hard because you wanted someone who could really stand up to Stockard. That was kinda hard to figure out. We saw lots of young girls who were really smart, but Stockard just kinda plowed through them, so to speak. At the time we got Julia she wasn't really... Save the Last Dance hadn't come out. She did 10 Things I Hate About You which was kind of a little hit. I actually had bigger names. Once I had Stockard I had bigger names that were interested in the role.
Julia has that ability to act strong without that false application, you know what I mean? She had the ability to be like... I don't know... She's got some toughs about her that I really believe. You know sometimes people act tough and you don't believe it? She's just strong and you really believe it.
QUINT: WHAT I'M CURIOUS ABOUT IS YOU HAVE THESE 2 ACTRESSES WHO HAVE PROVED THEMSELVES IN TWO DIFFERENT ERAS OF FILMMAKING... I WAS JUST WONDERING IF THAT AFFECTED YOUR DIRECTION?
PATRICK STETTNER: More than anything else I think the director's job is to communicate with actors about how to access emotions. You don't lay down the law on what you think acting should be, you look to how they process it. I was a little nervous in the beginning because we were doing rehearsals and I could tell that they weren't giving it all to me. I had "Game Day Actors" so to speak. I knew that I would get it then. So, a lot of my direction was really discussing what the beats were for each scene.
So, it was really blocking and emotional beats and making sure we were all on the same page tonally. It wasn't really hard. It's not like I had to do "us sessions" with them or anything. We didn't have to take mushrooms and trip out about what our character needs, where are we gonna be? It was really on the page.
QUINT: WHEN DOES THE FILM OPEN?
PATRICK STETTNER: December 7th.
QUINT: WHAT'S NEXT FOR YOU?
PATRICK STETTNER: You know, I wrote this because I needed to make a film. It's small and I'm really proud of it, but I want to do something that's a little bit more visually challenging, a little bit more youth oriented. You know, I want to make my "Fuck You" film before I get too old. I really like films like A Clockwork Orange. I want to do something a little bit... not so female. I'm really proud that I wrote these characters and a lot of people ask me about that and I'm also a little bit embarrassed about it. I want to do something a little bit different. Hopefully something a little bit bigger. We only had 23 days to shoot. Luckily I was very secure about it and knew what the film was, but there was all this visual stuff I wanted to do. I just couldn't.
QUINT: WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE DIRTY JOKE?
PATRICK STETTNER: (laughs) I was worried you were gonna ask me that. OK, here's the dirty joke. So this guy wants to get a bigger dick. He goes to the doctor and the doctor says, "I know about this one process. It's kinda new and it entails getting elephant blood and putting it on your penis." He does it and thinks he's gonna have wild sex with women. He goes out to dinner with this woman and she says, "Are you kicking me in the leg?" He says, "Not with my leg." She goes, "Is that your dick?" And he goes, "Yeah"... and then... something about grabbing a bun and sticking it up his ass! It's really a funny joke...
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There you have it, squirts. Short, but sweet. Check your local listings this weekend for the flick. At any rate, guess what I got for you folks? That's right, a super duper awesome set visit report, but you're gonna have to wait a day or two for that sucka. 'Til that day, this is Quint bidding you all a fond farewell and adieu.
-Quint
